The Wilted Flower
by Lady of the Shade
Summary: A Severus Snape/Lily Evans oneshot although that may change depending if readers review or not.  No copyright intended, I do not the beautiful characters that J.K. Rowling created.
1. Chapter 1

The snow crunched beneath his feet and kept him on the alert. If he heard any sounds but his own, he knew that those annoying Gryffindors James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, were following him. He didn't want anyone to be near him now, especially not James.

_James Potter took the love of my _life, said Severus Snape to himself as he continued to cross the snowy grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. _Lily was the only good thing in my life and now she's gone._

He refused to admit to himself that he had helped in driving Lily away. He had started to hang out with his Slytherin friends, they called themselves the Death Eaters just like Voldemort's followers and they all aspired to one day be the real thing.

But last year in their fifth year at Hogwarts, Lily had told him that she didn't like his new friends, as if she had any right! She said that they were mean to the other children at the school, that they were bullies. Severus had denied these accusations although his heart had told him that it was true. And when that Potter and his friends had tormented him in front of the whole school at the end of June and Lily had come to his defense, that had been that last straw. He hadn't needed her help, he had been able to defend himself.

Those words were his justification for calling her a Mudblood in front of the watching Gryffindors that had come to egg on his attackers.

She had run away from him then and _the Marauders_ as Potter and his friends called themselves, had followed her into the castle. Since that day almost six months before, Lily had not even acknowledged him in the halls when they passed each other.

A sadness came over Severus as he thought about Lily, hating that he felt so weak and vulnerable when she was concerned in any matter. And he hated feeling weak. The moment he was out of this school, he was going to find Voldemort and ask him to become a Death Eater. He would prove himself to anyone who had ever disbelieved him and that included Lily.

The Half-Blood Prince ploughed on through the snow until he reached one of the corridors that he knew led to the warmth of the Great Hall. Inside, he knew that he would be sitting at the Slytherin table alone until his friends showed up and would have a Butterbeer while he waited. This thought cheered him and he hurried through the snow until he was inside the castle and then sprinted down the many corridors until he was inside the Great Hall.

When he entered, some of the ghosts including Nearly Headless Nick were singing Christmas songs, Muggle ones. It made him smile to know the familiar tunes but he could also see through his dark brown eyes that many a young witch or wizard in the Great Hall with him did not know the songs and so were ignoring the cheerful ghosts by instead immersing themselves in conversation with their friends.

Severus scanned the room and found that not one of his fellow _Death Eaters_ were seated at the Slytherin table yet. With a shock, he wondered if they were going home for Christmas and hadn't told him. They were his friends, they would tell him everything… wouldn't they? He needn't have feared of being alone however, for when he sat down, that Potter and his friends sauntered up and sat down on either side of him. Severus glared at Peter, the only one of the group who was afraid of him. Peter recoiled.

"So, Snivellus, where are your _friends_?" asked Sirius Black, his long black hair fell into his face and covered for a moment the grey eyes that so many girls, including Slytherin ones, were in love with. Severus looked away nervously and over James' head to where the entrance to the Great Hall was located. He hoped that his friends would be with him soon.

"Go away, Black, before I conjure up a bone so that you can fetch it," he said, somewhat snide. Sirius blanched at the reference to him being an Animagi, most people weren't supposed to know about that and Severus had said it loud enough that a few people were now looking at Sirius oddly.

"Keep your voice down, Snivellus," he warned, coolly. "Or we can go tell Lily that you beat up some first year today by the Black Lake!"

"I did not!" shouted Severus, coming to his own defense. "Don't tell her anything!"

"I thought she didn't matter to you, Snape," taunted Remus Lupin, who leaned in so that Severus felt claustrophobic. "After all, what did you call her?"

"I… I didn't call her anything," stammered Severus and he turned his gaze downwards to look at his folded parchments and his Potions textbook that he held in his hands.

"So you're too much of a coward and a sod to even own up to it?" James Potter clarified. His eyes seemed to bore into the back of Severus' head until all Severus could see behind the lids of his downcast eyes was the face of his personal devil with the messy black hair and cocky attitude. He hated James Potter.

"I didn't call her anything that was not worthy of her," Severus said, much colder. "Now go away. I'm busy."

"Doing what?" asked Peter Pettigrew, who had grown more bold as the others had. "Writing love letters to Moaning Myrtle?" Here, the Marauders laughed as did some of the nearby Slytherins. None of Slytherins besides his fellow _Death Eaters_ actually liked Severus, which made it all the harder for him to defend himself as the Marauders packed on their taunts.

"I wouldn't write letters to that stupid little Mudblood of a ghost even if she was the last thing on Earth!" he retorted. "Moaning and crying all the time, how depressing."

"There's that word again," said Sirius, who had pointed when Severus had said _Mudblood_. "Getting into some very foul language, aren't you today, Snape?"

"Shove off," was Severus' weak retort. He couldn't stand up to them on his own.

"You love her," Lupin said suddenly and Severus turned to look at him.

"Love who?" he asked warily. The Great Hall seemed to grow silent like it wanted to hear every one of Lupin's whispered words. Through a sheet of his black hair that could never stay clean, no matter how often he showered, Severus could see some of the Gryffindors on the far side of the Great Hall sniggering behind their hands.

"Evans. You love Evans," Lupin clarified. Recognition dawned on Potter's face as Severus felt his face involuntarily burn at her name.

"I don't love her," he said and turned away from both Lupin and Potter. But Black and Pettigrew were both on his left. Severus was trapped. He sighed. "Just leave me alone. Lily and I aren't friends anymore, why do you have to rub it in?"

"Because it's just so much fun!" laughed James. "Who else is as cowardly as you? What makes you think that she'd pick you over one of us?"

"I don't want her to pick me."

"Come off it, of course you do!" Potter continued, his words burrowing themselves under Severus' skin. "But let me tell you something, Snivellus. She won't choose you. She'll never choose you. After all, you called her… a name. And by calling her that name, you lost your only true friend that you ever had in this place."

And with those _kind _words, the Marauders left Severus to his own devices.

"Don't cry," Severus thought to himself as he felt tears well up and anger brew in the pit of his stomach. "She is nothing to you anymore, a Mudblood, filth, an abomination. Why, she's no better than her idiotic Muggle of a sister Petunia."

"What?" a voice asked harshly and Severus turned around upon the long bench to see Lily Evans standing before him with the Marauders standing behind her. From behind her back, they gave him winks and cocky smiles.

"Sorry?" asked Severus, ignoring them.

"What about my sister?" Lily clarified as her tone became more harsh.

"I didn't say anything about your stupid sister," Severus snapped quickly before he realized what he said.

"You just called her an idiotic Muggle!" Lily pointed out, her red hair that was swept up into a long ponytail swung once against her back as she took a step forwards. "I just heard you."

"I was thinking out loud?" Severus asked.

"Well you must have been," hissed Lily. "And to think that James and Sirius told me to come over here because you wanted to finally apologize for calling me a… a… well, you know what you called me." Her emerald green eyes flashed with defiance as she crossed her arms over her chest and stuck a foot out, looking annoyed.

"Yeah and I already tried apologizing," Severus pointed out. That was true. He had. But then Lily had pointed out the whole Death Eater thing and had pretty much told him to stick his apology where it would never see the light of another day.

"I know but I thought about it over the summer and realized that you might have meant it," said Lily, her voice softening slightly. "So here I am, walking down here and standing behind you when we have already been at school for another four months and you call my sister idiotic."

"Why are you defending her? If anything, you should be agreeing with me," said Severus before he could stop himself.

"How dare you!" Lily bristled, her hair seemed to flame up although he knew that it was just a trick of the light. "She's my sister and is our equal, even if she is a Muggle!"

"But she's so nosy!" Severus pointed out. "You have said so yourself when you're mad at her. Or when we talk about Hogwarts and she tried to butt in."

"So what if she's nosy, she's just curious," Lily countered. "How would you like it, Sev, if everyone else in our town were wizards and witches and you weren't?" When he didn't answer her, Lily smirked.

"That's how Tuny feels every time I leave for Hogwarts," she pointed out.

When Severus still didn't say anything, Lily sighed, frustrated.

"I see you still haven't changed," she said finally, her eyes growing cold once again. "Well, I guess I will see you around." With that, she sauntered off, her black school robes that clung to her small frame billowed behind her. Remus, Sirius and Peter all ran to catch up with her but James hung back.

"Way to mess up again, _Snivellus_," he said in a whispered sneer. "Just one more push from you that is making her head in my direction." Then he called out to the others and ran to catch up with them, subtly taking Lily's hand as they left both the Great Hall and Severus, making him feel utterly alone.


	2. Chapter 2

The students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were running rampant about the castle in dizzying excitement. Why, you may ask? Because Professor Dumbledore had decided that the school was to have a Christmas dance, the first one ever held. And what's more? It was to be a "Witch's Ask" dance. The name of this in the Muggle world was called a "Saddie Hawkins" dance which is when the girls ask the boys to accompany them to the festivities. And all the girls, even the first years, were aflutter with the imaginings of budding romance on the dance floor.

The boys? They were just worrying about if they were going to be picked or not. But one group of boys that had already been asked over 520 times collectively even though the announcement of the dance had _just_ been the night before?

The Marauders. Or as the school knew them, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

James and Sirius were obvious. With their good looks and charms along with their cocky attitude, the girls of the school practically were fainting when they walked by. One girl walked up to Sirius and opened her mouth about to say something before shutting her mouth and walking away, her cheeks pink. James just ignored all the girls because there was only one girl he wanted. Evans. Lily Evans.

Remus was the sweet one that every girl secretly adored but he already had a girlfriend so he was politely declining the girls with looks of anxiousness in his light blue eyes, hating that he was hurting the feelings of so many people.

And Peter? Well, he had been asked by Rebecca Bulstrode and goodness knows that if you wanted to be mocked the rest of your life, you'd go to the dance with her. And Peter _did_ have somewhat of a reputation hanging out James, Remus and Sirius so he wanted to keep that in tact.

The four walked down corridors with girls parting as they passed, girls who whispered to their friends the moment after the four were out of earshot.

_This is going to be a good week_, thought Sirius with a chuckle as he grinned at some fourth year girl who had waved at him.

And this one actually _did _faint.

"Come on, Lily! Who are you asking?"

Lily Evans rolled her eyes at her friend Sarah Brookes as they walked along the edge of the Black Lake. The snow crunched beneath their boots and caressed each foot lovingly before it was lifted, leaving a trail of their footprints. Snow was falling lightly and the sun shone behind the thin covering of gray clouds so that it was slightly blurred when one looked up into the sky.

"I know who you're asking," Sarah chirped before Lily could say anything. "Potter! You're going to ask _James Potter_ to the Christmas dance, aren't you?"

Again, Lily rolled her eyes and tucked her chin further into her black peacoat, nuzzling it into the warm wrap that was her Gryffindor house scarf that wound its way around her neck.

"Sarah, for the last time, Potter and I are just friends. There's no use pretending any different," Lily responded, the first words she had been able to say in about a half hour since Sarah had been rambling so.

"It didn't look like he and you were just friends when he caught up with you the other week with the boys and took your hand," Sarah pointed out with a wink.

Those words made Lily stop in her tracks and she bit her lower lip as she thought. Her startlingly green eyes looked over to the frozen surface of the Black Lake as if she was remembering something. But she shook her head to clear the thought and her locks of wavy hair, the hair that was the colour of rust, danced down her back.

"Come off it, Lily. I know you like him."

"You're barking, Sarah," laughed Lily as they began to walk again. "Potter took my hand the other day because he… he was being reassuring…"

"Oh, sure," was Sarah's comeback. "_Very_ reassuring, indeed. I bet you he'd be _so_ reassuring that he would have taken you into his arms if you had let him."

"Sarah!" Lily whispered in a hiss, sounding panicked. For a moment, she had felt as if Potter had been right behind her. "Not so loud."

"Lily, we're over by the Black Lake," her friend pointed out with a laugh. "We're alone. The nearest person is about the length of two Quidditch pitches away."

"That doesn't matter… one shouldn't say such things," Lily chided and she began to walk a little faster.

"Oh, so sorry, _Mum_," joked Sarah. "Terribly sorry. Shall I go watch out my mouth with soap?"

"Yes," chimed in Lily, starting to giggle. "And for extra measure, you have to make out with Peter Pettigrew afterwards."

The two friends dissolved into peels of laughter and linked arms, turning in one fluid motion to start heading back to the castle. Heads nestled close together, they whispered secrets about whom their sixteen year old hearts desired and if the boy could not refuse, whom they would take to the dance.

"Now, children, this lesson is to teach you all how to waltz," said the projected but soothing voice of Professor Dumbledore. His voice reverberated off the stony walls of the Great Hall and made the people who had still been chattering go silent.

The house tables had disappeared and the students who were in their sixth year at Hogwarts now filled the Great Hall. Girls stood on one side and boys the other.

"The waltz," began Professor McGonagall, coming up to the Headmaster's side at the front of the room. "-is the most popular form of dancing. It is a dance that is easy to do-"

There were sighs of relief from the whole room as the teens relaxed. They hated looking stupid.

"-it's romantic-" McGonagall continued.

Here, there were coos of delight from the girls and moans from the boys. A single catcall was heard from a brave male student though and that made everyone laugh.

"-and it's slow," McGonagall concluded. "So again, none of you should have a problem with it. Professor Dumbledore and I will teach you the basic steps for that is all you will need. Mr. Filch, if you please."

Filch, who still had most of his hair, was standing in a corner of the Great Hall besides an immense gramophone. He placed a record on the flat turntable and placed the needle on the record. Soft music started up, flowing freely from the bell of the gramophone.

"Now, a waltz can be counted out in threes," said Dumbledore as he took McGonagall's hand and led her down the steps so that he could dance with her on the same floor as the students. "And all you do is move in a circle, counting to three with each step. Like so-"

He took McGonagall's waist lightly and the teens watched in awe as the two began to count to three over and over again aloud, matching the beats of the music. And then… they danced. Just in a circle, over and over again, no spins, twirls, nothing. Just in a circle.

When the song ended a minute later, McGonagall turned from facing Dumbledore to face the students.

"That's all you have to do," she said with a smile. "You may add spins if you want to… just go with the flow of the music and you'll know when to do them. Now if we can have a brave girl and boy to come together to demonstrate their knowledge of the waltz?"

The quiet murmuring of voices that had been going on while she had been talking now went silent. McGonagall found that the students were staring at her, wide-eyed.

"Very well, then. Professor Dumbledore, will you pick the young woman and I the young man? Good." With that, the two professors separated and walked over to either side of the room.

"Ms. Evans, if you'd please," said Professor Dumbledore, holding out his hand to Lily who stepped forward immediately and took it, smiling.

"Mr. Snape, if you would care to join me?" came McGonagall's voice and Lily's smile disappeared as McGonagall took Severus' arm and led him to the middle of the room. Dumbledore led Lily over immediately after.

"Now, Ms. Evans, please place your right hand on Mr. Snape's left shoulder and Mr. Snape, will you please take Ms. Evan's left hand with your right and place your left hand on her waist?" McGonagall asked although it was more of instruction.

The two teens grudgingly did so to the catcalls and jeers of many of their peers, including a "You look luscious, Lils!" from Siris, Remus and James in unison. She smiled over at them before she returned to staring blankly at Severus.

There was stil a foot of space between them.

"Come on, you two. No need to be afraid of one another," said Dumbledore with a slight chuckle as he tried to ease the tension. But it would not be eased. Lily's green eyes continued to glare into Severus' black.

"Mr. Filch, if you would," said Professor McGonagall again. Filch lifted the needle, flipped the record and placed the needle back down. "Now.. One, two, three. One, two, three-"

Severus and Lily started to waltz, she following his lead. He, placing slight pressure on the small of her waist, was able to make her step backwards and so they moved quite fluidly and beautifully even though they weren't even looking at one another.

"Children, the waltz is romantic," quipped McGonagall. "At least, for the love of Merlin, look at each other!"

But the two would not look into each other's eyes.

_All the more luck for me_, thought James with a smile.


	3. Chapter 3

Amongst the whirl and twirl of dresses and dress robes, the fabric of which were rustling against the floor at the first Christmas ball that Hogwarts had ever hosted, Lily Evans stood alone. She watched her friends dance and move across the floor with their respective dates, looking every bit as graceful as a Patronus floating through the air, or a swan gliding across the Black Lake. She bit her lip and looked around, her emerald eyes searching for any way she could escape the dance. Not really wanting to be there sort of sucked the joy out of things.

"Care to dance?"

Lily jumped, startled, as somebody posed a question to her. The cup of punch that she had held in her hand spilled slightly and she had to move so that it wouldn't fall onto her dress. Unfortunately, she moved backwards into whoever had asked her, her back bumping their chest. She blushed furiously and turned around, her eyes looking up expectantly at the face of her enquirer. Her cup slipped from her fingers then in surprise, but was caught by the young man. And of course that would be easy for him, he was the Seeker no doubt.

"Nice catch, Ja- Potter," Lily complimented as he handed her empty cup back to her. Deciding to be safe, she placed it back onto the nearby table. "Sorry for bumping into you."

"That's fine, Evans," the raven-haired boy replied with a cocky smile. "Lost your balance, did you?"

"Avoiding spilled punch," Lily returned, giving him a soft smile. She had to admit that even for Potter, he looked good. In solid black dress robes with a white bow tie, he was the picture of class. She, in her plum coloured dress that was last season's style, paled in comparison to him. After all, she _was_ only muggle born and couldn't afford the dresses that most young witches at her age could. He thought she'd never looked more beautiful.

"I wouldn't be drinking it if I were you," James advised with a soft chuckle. "How much have you had?"

"Why, Potter?" Evans asked, suddenly suspicious. She looked over to where her empty cup now sat.

"Sirius might have spiked it with Firewhisky. Not a lot, though," he added as he saw Lily's eyes widen in surprise. But to his astonishment, when she would have yelled at him, she laughed instead.

"I've only had one glass, but thanks for telling me. I'll be sure to drink water for the rest of the night," she replied. She made to walk away from then, since the song that had been playing had stopped and her friends were now leaving their dancing partners. But James took her arm lightly, making her turn back to face him.

"Care to dance?" he asked, repeating his question from earlier.

"Why?"

"Because I want to dance with you, Evans. And when you're at a dance, you dance."

"Hmm, is that what a dance is for?" Lily replied, a light smirk coming over her rosy lips. "I had no idea."

"I like it when you're playful, Evans," he told her. "It's so much better than when you're Miss Priss."

"Ah, but Potter, here is where we differ. I don't like _you_. In any way, shape, or form," Lily replied and then she walked away from him, over to her friends, her curled hair blazing behind her. James sighed. He was in love with her, as much as he hated to say it. And she tormented him.

Lily managed to dance through a few songs with her friends before she was once more interrupted. But this time, it was by someone she hated more than James.

"Dance with me, Lily."

It was an order, not a request. And it was from Severus Snape. Lily instantly bristled and crossed her arms in front of her chest but she kept it out of her voice. "No," she said simply. No anger or hatred laced it. "I won't."

"Oh, come on," Severus pleaded and he looked like he was trying to copy the smolder look that James and Sirius had but he failed miserably. Lily tried not to snort with laughter.

"I said no, do you not understand me?" Lily replied evenly. She could see his friends, the _Death Eaters_, standing behind him a few feet back. "Besides, your friends wouldn't like it."

"Snape, get away from the mudblood, you'll catch something!" one of the Death Eaters called. Lily looked into Severus' face.

"If you really want me to dance, you'll tell them to shove off right now," she whispered to him.

But she could see his will break in his eyes. He wouldn't do it. He was too weak. And she could do better. Turning around, her eyes sought James and she quickly found him. Lily turned back to Severus only to give him a disappointed look before she then walked over and placed her hand in James' awaiting one, the Marauders cheering them on.

She had left him alone in the middle of the dance floor. And he, not being strong enough, couldn't do anything about it.


End file.
